Springfield Model 1868 | |
---|---|
Type | Breech-loading rifle |
Place of origin | United States |
Service history | |
In service | 1868–1873 |
Used by | United States |
Wars | American Indian Wars |
Production history | |
Designer | Erskine S. Allin |
Designed | 1868 |
Manufacturer | Springfield Armory |
Produced | 1868–1870 |
No. built | Approx. 52,000 |
Variants | Model 1868 carbine |
Specifications | |
Length | 52 in (1,300 mm) |
Barrel length | 32.5 in (830 mm) |
Cartridge | .50-70-450 |
Action | Trapdoor |
Rate of fire | User dependent; usually 8 to 10 rounds per minute |
Feed system | Breech-loading |
Sights | Open sights |
The Springfield Model 1868 was one of the rifles which used the trapdoor breechblock design developed by Erskine S. Allin.
Originally, the trapdoor Springfields were created to convert Springfield Model 1863 rifled muskets to breech-loading rifles at a relatively low cost. This conversion consisted of replacing the percussion lock with the breech-loading trapdoor mechanism, and relining the barrels to convert them from .58 to .50 caliber. This proved problematic, because in the field, the lining tended to separate from the barrel.
To correct this problem, the Model 1868 used a new barrel instead of relining the original older barrel. The new barrel was slightly shorter, 32.5 inches, compared to the 36.5-inch barrel used on the Springfield Model 1866. The shorter barrel was affixed using only two barrel bands, instead of the three used on the Model 1866. Since it lacked the middle barrel band, the sling was affixed to the upper barrel band instead. The Model 1868 also differed from previous models in that it used a separate Allin type receiver with the barrel attached to it. The Model 1868 was also the first trapdoor conversion to use the cartridge extractor covered by U.S. Patent No. 68,009, issued August 27, 1867 to W.H. & G.W. Miller. The Model 1868 had an overall length of 517⁄8 inches. [1]
Over 50,000 Model 1868 rifles were manufactured, chambered for the .50-70 450 cartridge. This model served as the basis for the definitive Springfield Model 1873 series of rifles in .45-70-405 caliber, which was adopted in 1873 as the standard military longarm of the United States armed forces for the next 20 years.
This model is unique in the trapdoor series by being marked with the actual year of manufacture (1868, 1869, or 1870) on the breech-block. The 1868 marking is extremely rare with probably no more than 150 so marked; about 16,000 were marked 1869, with the remaining 36,000 being stamped 1870. As of December 2022, only 23 specimens are known with the 1868 date on the breech block. Latest to surface is #25, joining earlier finds of #62, #36, #127, #6 and #93.
In the late 1860s and early 1870s, many army units continued to use outdated rifled muskets and other weapons like the Spencer .56 caliber repeating rifle and Sharps .52 caliber percussion rifle. The army wanted to standardize weapons and ammunition, and forced these units to switch to trapdoor Springfields once the Model 1868 went into full production. [2]
A Model 1868 Carbine version was experimented with, but never went beyond the prototyping stage. The Carbine version had a 221⁄4-inch barrel.
In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have no moving parts other than the trigger, hammer/firing pin or frizzen, and therefore do not need a sizable receiver behind the barrel to accommodate a moving action, making them far less complex and more robust than revolvers or magazine/belt-fed firearms, but also with much slower rates of fire.
The term Springfield rifle may refer to any one of several types of small arms produced by the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, for the United States armed forces.
A rifled musket, rifle musket, or rifle-musket is a type of firearm made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels replaced with rifled barrels. The term later included rifles that directly replaced, and were of the same design overall as, a particular model of smoothbore musket.
The Kammerlader, or "chamber loader", was the first Norwegian breech-loading rifle, and among the first breech loaders adopted for use by an armed force anywhere in the world. A single-shot black-powder rifle, the kammerlader was operated with a crank mounted on the side of the receiver. This made it much quicker and easier to load than the weapons previously used. Kammerladers quickly gained a reputation for being fast and accurate rifles, and would have been a deadly weapon against massed ranks of infantry.
The .45-70, also known as the .45-70 Government, .45-70 Springfield, and .45-21⁄10" Sharps, is a .45 caliber rifle cartridge originally holding 70 grains of black powder that was developed at the U.S. Army's Springfield Armory for use in the Springfield Model 1873. It was a replacement for the stop-gap .50-70 Government cartridge, which had been adopted in 1866, one year after the end of the American Civil War, and is known by collectors as the "Trapdoor Springfield".
The Springfield Model 1873 was the first standard-issue breech-loading rifle adopted by the United States Army. The rifle, in both full-length and carbine versions, was widely used in subsequent battles against Native Americans.
The British .577 Snider–Enfield was a breech-loading rifle. The American inventor, Jacob Snider created this firearm action, and the Snider–Enfield was one of the most widely used of the Snider varieties. The British Army adopted it in 1866 as a conversion system for its ubiquitous Pattern 1853 Enfield muzzle-loading rifles, and used it until 1880 when the Martini–Henry rifle began to supersede it. The British Indian Army used the Snider–Enfield until the end of the nineteenth century.
The Springfield Model 1865 was an early breech-loading rifle manufactured by U.S. Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was a modification of the Springfield Model 1861. It was later replaced with the Springfield Model 1866.
The Springfield Model 1866 was the second iteration of the Allin-designed trapdoor breech-loading mechanism. Originally developed as a means of converting rifle muskets to breechloaders, the Allin modification ultimately became the basis for the definitive Springfield Model 1873, the first breech-loading rifle adopted by the United States War Department for manufacture and widespread issue to U.S. troops.
The Springfield Model 1870 was one of the rifles which used the trapdoor breechblock design developed by Erskine S. Allin. The Model 1870 was a minor improvement to the Springfield Model 1868, and retained most of the Model 1868 rifle features.
The .50-70 Government / 12.7 x 45 mm R, also known as the .50-70 Musket, .50-70 Springfield, and .50-1+3⁄4" Sharps) is a black powder cartridge adopted in 1866 for the Springfield Model 1866 trapdoor rifle.
During the American Civil War, an assortment of small arms found their way onto the battlefield. Though the muzzleloader percussion cap rifled musket was the most numerous weapon, being standard issue for the Union and Confederate armies, many other firearms, ranging from the single-shot breech-loading Sharps and Burnside rifles to the Spencer and the Henry rifles - two of the world's first repeating rifles - were issued by the hundreds of thousands, mostly by the Union. The Civil War brought many advances in firearms technology, most notably the widespread use of rifled barrels.
The Winchester Hotchkiss was a bolt-action repeating rifle patented by Benjamin B. Hotchkiss in 1876 and produced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and Springfield Armory from 1878. The Hotchkiss, like most early bolt-actions, had a single rear locking lug integral with the bolt handle, but was unique in feeding multiple rounds from a tubular buttstock magazine similar to the Spencer rifle. The .45-70 Hotchkiss was acquired in limited numbers by the US Navy as the M1879, and by the US Army and several state militias as the M1883, making it the first center-fire bolt-action repeater to be adopted by any major military.
The Springfield Model 1869 was one of several model "trapdoor Springfields", which used the trapdoor breechblock design developed by Erskine S. Allin.
The term Joslyn Rifle refers to a series of rifles produced in the mid-19th century. The term is often used to refer specifically to the Joslyn Model 1861/1862, which was the first mass-produced breech-loading rifle produced at the Springfield Armory.
The US Model 1842 Musket was a .69 caliber musket manufactured and used in the United States during the 19th century. It is a continuation of the Model 1816 line of muskets but is generally referred to as its own model number rather than just a variant of the Model 1816.
The Springfield Model 1855 was a rifled musket widely used in the American Civil War. It exploited the advantages of the new conical Minié ball, which could be deadly at over 1,000 yards (910 m). It was a standard infantry weapon for Union and Confederates alike, until the Springfield Model 1861 supplanted it, obviating the use of the insufficiently weather resistant Maynard tape primer.
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In firearms, a trapdoor is a form of breech-loading mechanism for rifles in which a hinged breechblock rotates up and forward, resembling the movement of a trapdoor. The Springfield models 1865 and 1873 were best known for first employing this type of action.